Parry Sounds ~ Ideas and Opinions, In and Around Parry Sound

A not so short meeting last night with a number of issues up for discussion. There were a number of questions raised by Council that needed to be addressed by staff that seemed to drag on longer than necessary. But all’s well that ends well.

Most items presented to Council were approved, although the Big Event” budget was not. It seems the cost of the event was more than Council could rationalize given the large number of priorities the Town will face in 2012. The Big Event was only possible on a weekend that is already packed with other events in town, notably the start of the Festival of the Sound and Art in the Park. Regardless, the Sports Bike Rally will be taking a year off in 2012.

The key points that arose during the meetings are summarized below.

1. Georgian Bay Country presented council with an update on what the have done this year and discussed the reach of their regional tourism promotion activities. It’s impressive to see what they have accomplished with such limited resources. Perhaps Council will agree to raise their support for this organization in 2012. What Georgian Bay Country receives now is much, much less than what is provided by the Muskoka municipalities for comparable tourism promotion.

2. The Big Event will not be coming to Parry Sound in 2012 based on the decision of Council as discussed above.

3. The Finance Committee Members were approved as proposed. Council members who will sit on the Committee are Jamie McGarvey (Chair), Dan McCauley (Vice-Chair) and Brad Horne.

4. The Parry Sound Power Generation Corporation is considering as much as a $13 million capital investment to increase its electricity generating capacity. Council has decided that while this is a pressing issue, appropriate time and effort must be taken to properly understand the pros and cons given the huge cost of the project. I understand that similar project proposals in the past have not provided, on paper at least, the types of returns that warranted the investment.

7. The next meeting of Council is December 6th, the public portion of the meeting starts at 7:00 PM at the Parry Sound Town Hall, access from Gibson Street.

You will be able to find more information on the meeting in the official minutes that will be posted in a couple of days. In addition, more information with additional reporting is always available in the North Star and Beacon Star a few days later. The same articles are often also available online at Cottage Country Now.